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Several Confederate Monuments Removed in Baltimore Overnight

Several Confederate monuments were removed in Baltimore, Maryland, overnight, as the violence over a Robert E. Lee statue in Charlottesville, Virginia, moves leaders across the country to accelerate plans to remove remaining imagery of the Old South. (Published Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2017)

Several Confederate monuments were removed in Baltimore, Maryland, overnight, as the violence at a rally held by those opposed to the removal of a Robert E. Lee statue in Charlottesville, Virginia, moved leaders across the country to accelerate plans to take down remaining imagery of the Old South.

Statues of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson were removed with a crane and placed on flatbed trucks early Wednesday morning, WBAL reported. A statue of former Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney and the Confederate Women's Monument in Bishop Square Park were also removed.

Meanwhile, Virginia Governer Terry McAuliffe released a statement Wednesday afternoon, encouraging Virginia's localities and the General Assembly to take down the confederate monuments and relocate them to museums or more appropriate settings.

Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh told The Baltimore Sun that crews began removing the city's four Confederate monuments late Tuesday and finished around 5:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Pugh said the monuments "needed to come down." The mayor watched as workers removed the statues in the dark.

Carolyn Billups, the former president of the Maryland Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, says she thinks Pugh has made a mistake by taking down the Confederate monuments in such secrecy.

"I don't think it should have been done, period," Billups said. "The decision was made and executed and everything was done under cover. I'd like to have at least had the opportunity to pay my last respects.''

Many local and state governments announced they would remove statues and other imagery from public land, or consider doing so, in the aftermath of Saturday's white nationalist rally that killed one counter-protester and injured dozens more. Two Virginia state troopers were also killed when their helicopter crashed.

The changes were publicized as President Donald Trump defended Confederate statues in wide-ranging remarks.

"This week it's Robert E. Lee. I notice that Stonewall Jackson's coming down,'' Trump said during a visit to Trump Tower in New York. "I wonder, is it George Washington next week, and is it Thomas Jefferson the week after? You know you really do have to ask yourself, where does it stop?''

Confederate Monument Toppled

Protesters in Durham, N.C. toppled a Confederate monument Monday night. The statue, called "The Confederate Soldiers Monument," was dedicated in 1924. It was pulled down Monday and protesters stomped on it.

(Published Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2017)

Asked specifically whether Charlottesville's Lee statue should come down, he said: "I would say that's up to a local town, community or the federal government, depending on where it is located.''

All around the country, Republican and Democratic officials at the state and local levels moved swiftly to begin a process to remove the statues.

In California, a 6-foot monument of Confederate war veterans from the Pacific region in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery will be removed Wednesday amid public pressure. The cemetery's president contacted the Daughters of the Confederacy, owners of the monument, who agreed to its removal Wednesday, NBC Los Angeles reported.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said he would ask the Legislature to reverse a 2015 law signed by his Republican predecessor, Pat McCrory, that prevents the removal or relocation of monuments, and to defeat a measure giving immunity to motorists who strike protesters. He also planned to ask state officials to determine the cost of moving Confederate statues and to give him options of where they could go.

"Our Civil War history is important, but it belongs in textbooks and museums —not a place of allegiance on our Capitol grounds,'' Cooper said in a statement.

In Maryland, GOP Gov. Larry Hogan said Tuesday he would push to remove the statue of Taney, author of the infamous Dred Scott ruling in 1857 affirming slavery, from state land.

Trump Responds to Confederate Statues Being Torn Down

Trump responds to reporters' questions about the Charlottesville rally over the weekend.

(Published Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2017)

"While we cannot hide from our history, nor should we, the time has come to make clear the difference between properly acknowledging our past and glorifying the darkest chapters of our history,'' said Hogan, who before the Charlottesville rally had resisted calls to move the statue.

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings announced plans Tuesday to ask his city council to appoint a task force to study the fate of the city's Confederate statues. Rawlings said he personally finds the monuments to be "dangerous totems,'' but a task force would ensure a productive conversation.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, a Republican, called on state officials Monday to remove a bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate cavalry general and an early leader of the Ku Klux Klan, from the Tennessee Capitol. Protesters earlier draped a black jacket over the head of the bust while cheering, "Tear it down!''

Similar plans were being made in San Antonio, as well as Lexington, Kentucky; Memphis, Tennessee; Jacksonville, Florida; and elsewhere.

In Durham, Sheriff Mike Andrews said protesters who toppled a nearly century-old Confederate statue in front of a North Carolina government building would face felony charges. The Confederate Soldiers Monument, dedicated in 1924, stood in front of an old courthouse that now houses local government offices. The crumpled and dented bronze figure has been taken to a warehouse for storage.

Deputies later arrested Takiyah Thompson, who identified herself Tuesday as the woman who tied the rope that was used to tear it down. She said her actions were justified because Confederate statues represent white supremacy.

Tenn. Protesters Target KKK Leader's Statue

Dozens of protesters gathered at the Tennessee State Capitol on Monday, Aug. 14, demanding the removal of the bust of Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, a former leader of the Ku Klux Klan.

(Published Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2017)

A law professor and director of the Center for Terrorism Law at St. Mary's University in San Antonio called removal a "slippery slope,'' saying judging historical figures through a modern lens can be difficult.

"A healthy democracy and people within that democracy should be able to say, 'This is our history.' And history is made up of actions of human beings, and human beings aren't perfect,'' said Jeffrey F. Addicott, who stressed he was speaking for himself and not the law school.

Statues, he added, can be moved, but he's opposed to them being "put in a warehouse never to be seen again because then you're kind of erasing or rewriting history.''

The Sons of Confederate Veterans condemned attempts to take down Confederate statues around the country.

"These statues were erected over 100 year ago to honor the history of the United States,'' added Thomas V. Strain Jr., the group's commander in chief. "They're just as important to the entire history of the U.S. as the monuments erected to our forefathers.''

Strain, who said his group did not participate in Charlottesville, condemned the Klan, white nationalist groups, neo-Nazis and other extremists.

Parkland Shooting Survivor Calls 'BS' on Politicians' Gun Stance

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High Sophomore Emma Gonzales had a message for president Donald Trump and for other politicians on their failure to enact sensible gun laws: "BS." Gonzales was one of several survivors to speak at a rally held outside the Federal Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to speak out against the gun lobby.

(Published 3 hours ago)

"It's painful to watch for lack of better words,'' he said. "It was our family that fought, and it was our families that died, and now we have these knuckleheads hijacking the flag for their own purposes.''

But city and state officials said Charlottesville convinced them it's time to move on from having Confederate imagery in prominent public places.

In Lexington, Kentucky, Mayor Jim Gray moved up his announcement by a day in reaction to the Charlottesville bloodshed. Memorials to John C. Breckinridge and John Hunt Morgan are perched outside a former courthouse that was the site of slave auctions before the Civil War.

"This is the right time,'' Gray said Monday. "We accelerated that because of the events in Charlottesville, but I knew that it was the right thing to do.''

In Philadelphia, the mayor says the city should discuss the future of a statue of one of his predecessors after reports of possible vandalism and a city councilwoman's call for its removal.

Democratic Mayor Jim Kenney said Tuesday now is the "right time" for a conversation about the statue of Frank Rizzo, a former mayor and police commissioner who critics say reigned over the city when police brutality was the accepted norm.

In San Diego, California, a plaque recognizing a highway named in honor of the president of the Confederacy Jefferson Davis was removed Wednesday.

"While some may see many sides to this issue, monuments to bigotry have no place in San Diego," Council member Chris Ward said, adding the removal of the plaque is a small but "critically important step" to keep the city as an inclusive place.